The Difference between End-to-end Encryption and Client-side Encryption

we are soon going to release a new Encryption feature for our desktop applications and we want to clarify some Crypto terms in order to give you better understanding of our product.

One often misused term in cloud storage area is End-to-end encryption in the meaning of Client-side encryption.

As wikipedia describes“End-to-end encryption is a digital communications paradigm of uninterrupted protection of data traveling between two communicating parties. It involves the originating party encrypting data to be readable only by the intended recipient, and the receiving party decrypting it, with no involvement in said encryption by third parties”.

The usage of this term in a cloud service, where you store your information, suggests that only the transfer between you and the servers is encrypted, and the servers might be able to decrypt your information.

Client-side encryption, on the other hand, is the cryptographic technique of encrypting data before it is transmitted to the servers in a computer network. Encryption is performed with a passphrase that is not known to the servers, consequently it is not possible for the service provider to decrypt the hosted data. Client-side encryption allows the creation of zero-knowledge applications, the providers of which cannot access the data stored by its users.